Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

José Tolentino Mendonça

FRIENDS

We look at those strangers
whom we love and who love us
and they’re always adolescents
afraid and alone
with no practical sense
with scant notion of the threat or renunciation
that weighs on the light
careless and intense in their devotion
to what’s fleeting

One day we wake up sad with their sadness
since the fortuitous meaning of the fields
explains with other words
what makes their eyes incomparable

But the greater impression is one of happiness
that can’t be grasped
and is therefore tenuous, mysterious
the way perhaps all love is

OS AMIGOS

OS AMIGOS

Esses estranhos que nós amamos
e nos amam
olhamos para eles e são sempre
adolescentes, assustados e sós
sem nenhum sentido prático
sem grande noção da ameaça ou da renúncia
que sobre a luz incide
descuidados e intensos no seu exagero
de temporalidade pura

Um dia acordamos tristes da sua tristeza
pois o fortuito significado dos campos
explica por outras palavras
aquilo que tornava os olhos incomparáveis

Mas a impressão maior é a da alegria
de uma maneira que nem se consegue
e por isso ténue, misteriosa:
talvez seja assim todo o amor

Close

FRIENDS

We look at those strangers
whom we love and who love us
and they’re always adolescents
afraid and alone
with no practical sense
with scant notion of the threat or renunciation
that weighs on the light
careless and intense in their devotion
to what’s fleeting

One day we wake up sad with their sadness
since the fortuitous meaning of the fields
explains with other words
what makes their eyes incomparable

But the greater impression is one of happiness
that can’t be grasped
and is therefore tenuous, mysterious
the way perhaps all love is

FRIENDS

We look at those strangers
whom we love and who love us
and they’re always adolescents
afraid and alone
with no practical sense
with scant notion of the threat or renunciation
that weighs on the light
careless and intense in their devotion
to what’s fleeting

One day we wake up sad with their sadness
since the fortuitous meaning of the fields
explains with other words
what makes their eyes incomparable

But the greater impression is one of happiness
that can’t be grasped
and is therefore tenuous, mysterious
the way perhaps all love is
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère